Use of buried service records would have prevented shock

摘要

The director of a general building firm has received a suspended 14-month prison sentence after a worker's electric breaker struck a power cable during excavation work for the installation of a post to hold an Automatic Number Plate Recognition Camera. The principal contractor for the construction project, CLC Contractors, was fined ￡400,000 for its role in the incident. The worker, who wishes to remain anonymous, was injured on 2 August 2018 at Twyford near Reading in Berkshire. CLC Contractors is a property maintenance and refurbishment company that prides itself on directly employing staff rather than using sub-contracted labour. It had limited experience of groundwork, however, and so contracted PAG Building Services to carry out the excavation. PAG Building Services was essentially a one-person operation and its director, Paul Gale, subcontracted the work to a small team of two general labourers. One of the labourers initially dug the earth by hand, but the ground conditions and hedgerow roots led him to use an 110V mechanical electric breaker. He struck a 415V power cable supplying an adjacent British Telecommunications building, and received an electric shock that caused burns to one hand and to his opposite arm.